Premium
Cerebral Synaptic Transmission During Anoxia Is Protected by Creatine
Author(s) -
Whittingham Tim S.,
Lipton Peter
Publication year - 1981
Publication title -
journal of neurochemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.75
H-Index - 229
eISSN - 1471-4159
pISSN - 0022-3042
DOI - 10.1111/j.1471-4159.1981.tb06337.x
Subject(s) - phosphocreatine , neurotransmission , creatine , brain tissue , hippocampal formation , biology , extracellular , neuroscience , transmission (telecommunications) , hippocampus , chemistry , biophysics , biochemistry , endocrinology , energy metabolism , receptor , engineering , electrical engineering
Synaptic transmission in cerebral tissue fails very rapidly in the absence of oxygen; the metabolic basis for this is not known. We report here that the transmission failure in the guinea pig hippocampal slice can be delayed threefold by exposing the tissue to extracellular creatine (Cr) for 3 h. The improved survival is associated with an increase of tissue phosphocreatine (PCr) concentration. These data argue that the metabolic basis for synaptic transmission failure is a fall in tissue ATP concentrations. They also indicate a way to protect brain tissue against anoxic damage.